by Susan Davis, USA TODAY

by Susan Davis, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- Defeated GOP Sen. Scott Brown declined Tuesday to say whether he'd run for the U.S. Senate again if President Obama taps Brown's Massachusetts colleague John Kerry to serve in the administration.

"It is speculation. There's no vacancy that I'm aware of," Brown told reporters at the U.S. Capitol, even as he noted that he believes Kerry would be an "excellent" Cabinet secretary.

The Boston Globe and The Washington Post reported that Kerry, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is being considered as a possible successor to Leon Panetta as secretary of Defense. Kerry also has long coveted the secretary of State's job, which Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she will give up in a second Obama term.

Kerry's exit from the Senate would trigger a special election, which is how Brown got to Washington. In 2010, the Republican scored an upset victory for the seat long held by Democrat Edward Kennedy. Kennedy died in 2009.

Brown was defeated last week for a full term by Democrat Elizabeth Warren, ending his more than two years in the Senate.

"Right now, I'm concerned about where we go for the next seven weeks," he said, explaining that he wants to play a role in avoiding the fiscal cliff at the end of the year -- when tax rates will go up and spending cuts will take effect, unless Congress acts.

Brown is also seen by some in Massachusetts as a possible candidate for governor, but he refused to say whether he would consider that job.

"First of all, once again I have a job to do right now, and there is not an opening right now for governor, nor is there an opening for senator, but there is an opening for a dad and a husband, and that's the role that I want to play," he said.

Brown made clear, however, that he intends to remain in the political arena and called for a more inclusive, big-tent Republican Party.

"I'm hopeful we'll be a more tolerant, open-minded party. I plan to continue to play a role of some sort, but I don't know what yet. But I know I've been very happy to be here," he said.